Martin Scorsese’s ‘Shutter Island’ Will Become A TV Series On HBO

Martin Scorsese's 'Shutter Island' Will Become A TV Series On HBO

Because television shows are being treated with the same artistic reverence as movies now (just look at the Sundance Film Festival screening Jane Campion‘s “Top Of The Lake,” or the upcoming Venice Film Festival unspooling “Olive Kitteridge“), big studio TV shows are desperately trying to keep up. With “Fargo” in particular showing that movie properties can become TV shows and find an audience with critics and the public, the race is on. And Paramount is going hard.

With “Narc,” “School Of Rock,” “The Truman Show” and “Ghost” already in various stages of small screen development, next up is Martin Scorsese‘s “Shutter Island,” which is headed to HBO. The show will be titled “Ashecliffe,” and the story begins before the events of the movie, with Dennis Lehane (who wrote the novel the movie was based on) penning the pilot script, and Scorsese to direct. It continues the director’s ongoing relationship with the network, which includes “Boardwalk Empire” (entering its final season next month), and an upcoming untitled rock ‘n roll drama.

No word yet on when this may start moving toward production, but we’d wager it probably won’t be until Scorsese is done with “Silence, which theoretically should start shooting any day now (unless it has been pushed back yet again). We suppose we’re intrigued about “Ashecliffe,” even if it doesn’t seem like the most obvious choice for a TV series. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see how it turns out. [Deadline]